I’ve spent the past 2 months living in New York. For a boy who resides in a sleepy city in Kent, it was a big change. Here’s what I loved, what I hated and if it’s a place I could live full time.

The bad things 😠

  1. Why so expensive? Everyone knows NYC is expensive, but living there you can’t escape the velocity of expensive things that are thrown at you. My daily espresso from the local coffee shop was $6, toothpaste is $10. You’d be lucky to escape Trader Joe’s for under $75 (and that’s the cheap store). Do we want to talk about rent…?
  2. You call your subway transport? Never on time, slidy seats, confusing af, crazy people everywhere. Delete and restart would be a good option here. Good value though.
  3. The whole city smells awful— some people think this is part of the charm. Why are your “trash” bags out on the streets? There’s containers for this sort of thing.

Ok beefing over, I needed to get that off my chest 🧘

The good things 😄

  1. Citibike. Where NYC lacks in its subway it makes up for these weapons of transportation. Speedy, robust, available everywhere. Was my preferred method to get around town when I didn’t have camera gear on me. So bloody expensive though— but we knew that.
  2. Food. You won’t go hungry in NYC. Because the kitchen’s in apartments are a joke, you have to eat out often. Los Tacos is my fav place but gets boring after the 5th time in as many weeks. But you can get the best of any food here, at all prices, it’s a real treat.
  3. Energy + people. This is the kicker and makes up for all the silly things about the city. There is no place in the world that has the same level of inspiring people— everyone here is on a mission to make something of themselves and it’s infectious. London comes close, but the people don’t have the self-confidence and entrepreneurial spirit as the Americans do.

I met two chaps that are the epitome of this: Jack and Geno are carving out a space for themselves in the advertising industry by breaking the mold of what existing media. I hung out with them for a few hours and I was full of ideas and energy. These chaps are going to be flying in a few years (and they moved to they even moved to city to be around the people).

To conclude my thoughts on NYC: smelly, terrible subway and it will batter your bank account. But the energy and people make it worth it if you’re on a mission to build something special.

Thank you to my New York correspondent and tour guide, Melissa, for the lodging during my stay.

Me and my landlord in NYC